another old time hardware store closing...

[TAB]

 I hate to see it, tomarrow is oaks hardwares last day.    making a list now for the hard to find stuff.   

[PegLeg45]

The last remnants of the 'small operation era' are fading away....thanks to the big-box-stores.   

[lhprop1]

It's a sad day.  I love the smell and ambiance of the small town hardware store.  I go to mine over Home Depot every chance I can. 

[PegLeg45]

For now we still have Citizens Hardware...... it's the only place I know of in the area where you can still buy a #2 washtub.

[fatbaldguy]

I spend a lot of money at Barney's Hardware.  Sure, I could get it cheaper at Lowe's or Home Depot.  For the price at the big box, I get to find it myself(very hard for nuts/bolts etc), try to measure it through the package, stand in line at the one register open, cause too many employee's are too expensive.  Drive further to get it home, only to find that it was stocked in the wrong bin, mis-labled, or, was broken inside that packaging where it couldn't be noticed.  Then have a heluva time returning it.

Whereas, at Barney's, they will find it for me, if I ask.  Help me to the aisle I need to be in.  Open the package themselves to see if the part I'm buying fits/matches the part I brought.  Greet me at the register, by name, carry it to the car/truck/van if needed, special order anything I can think of and have it in less than a week, and do it all with smiles.  Plus, it is closer to home.  I don't mind paying a quarter more per item for something like that.  Hell, I even paid $10 more for a drill than I would have at the box, just because.

[Sponsor]

[jaybet]

I have felt a twinge at the strings of my heart more than once when I see a former proud businessman, tradesman, or account manager wearing an orange apron in the box joint.

But I have to feel I helped put him there by being in the box joint.


"As I walk along I have the blues as my companion. I don't always do my brother right."

[TAB]

I hate the boxs.   for the most part they don't have what you need and they are higher.

[PegLeg45]

I have felt a twinge at the strings of my heart more than once when I see a former proud businessman, tradesman, or account manager wearing an orange apron in the box joint.

But I have to feel I helped put him there by being in the box joint.


"As I walk along I have the blues as my companion. I don't always do my brother right."

Same here.
"Let he who is without sin........."

I can't throw rocks at anyone....... I'm guilty of it too.
I try as hard as I can to keep as much of my outgoing dollars local....but when money runs tight, or the price difference is too far apart, then the overwhelming tide of the "necessary evil" takes over.

A good example of a local guy finding a way to compete is right here in our area. We have a hardware/supply store that is a small chain (half-dozen stores) that are ACE Hardware franchises, but locally owned. They used to be the highest priced place in town fifteen years ago.....and when Lowes moved in ten years ago they almost closed then. The guy running ours 'woke up' a few years ago and found a way to supply better quality lumber that averages $1.00 per board lower than Lowes..... and he'll deliver free (Lowes charges $50) in a 25 mile radius. He just had to add on to the size of the store to increase the range of stocked goods.
Makes me happy, happy, happy.

[Jrlobo]

Pegleg,

      Thank your lucky stars for your Ace. I had a local small hardware store here in Middletown, a hop, skip and a jump away, that closed four years ago. I then relied on our Ace hardware store across South Mountain in Boonsboro, but it burnt to the ground two years ago. So now I have to cross Catoctin Mountain to Frederick, where the big box stores are Lowes and Home Depot. They ran two smaller hardware stores out of business several years ago. I too yearn for the creaky hardwood floors, smell of linseed oil, the surprises around each aisle and the friendliness of the owners. Gone are those days forever...unless I move to sleepy hollow.

[fightingquaker13]

I won't set foot in a Lowe's or Home Depot unless I'm looking for something like plywood or lawn furniture (or they're having a huge sale ). I mean at Ace, or my local hardware, I can buy A screw, as in one singular, and a guy will help me make sure it's the right size, same as if I was buying a a hundred dollar drill. They not only know where things are and speak English, which puts them twelve steps ahead of our Home Depot, but they can also tell me how to do the job, or will find someone who can. They aren't more expensive than the big boxes, they're a bargain when you factor in what you're getting. Sadly, people are too stupid to get this, me included sometimes, but as the previous posts say, I don't want to be THAT GUY. The one that drove them out of business for the sake of false economy then bitches when they're gone, so I shop there 9 times out of 10.